Photo: Dougtone · CC BY-SA 2.0Leonardtown’s library is a branch of St. Mary's County Library, which lends more per resident than 84% of systems its size
Leonardtown’s library is the Leonardtown Branch, a branch of St. Mary's County Library, which serves 114,468 people and lent 1M items last year.
The short version on Leonardtown’s library
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 58% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 87% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Maryland pays a big share
24% of the budget comes from the state, and 71% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; Leonardtown’s library is a branch of St. Mary's County Library, so they cover the whole system (114,468 people), not just the Leonardtown branch.
What’s behind Leonardtown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Leonardtown is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns, #11 of 67 in Maryland. Leonardtown is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Leonardtown’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
29 community nonprofits are registered in Leonardtown
6.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.3%
8.3% of Leonardtown’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.2% in the typical Maryland town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Leonardtown’s residents live; 2022.
About 19 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
St. Mary's County Library serves 114,468 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 109 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole St. Mary's County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
207,249 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Leonardtown Branch, 23630 Hayden Farm Ln., Leonardtown.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every St. Mary's County Library branch.
New in Leonardtown? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.84 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Leonardtown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $5.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $15M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.2M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 32,803 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Leonardtown Branch is one branch of St. Mary's County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 114,468 people it serves.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Leonardtown
Does Leonardtown have a public library?
Yes: Leonardtown Branch, 23630 Hayden Farm Ln., is a branch of St. Mary's County Library, which serves 114,468 people. The branch is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is St. Mary's County Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Leonardtown’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 8.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Leonardtown’s civic life grade?
A− Leonardtown is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns on civic life, #11 of 67 in Maryland. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Leonardtown.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.